Café Del Mar's Volume 5 (recently released for the first time in the U.S.) oozes warm, fuzzy, and thoroughly provocative trip-hop laced tuneage sans the shadow of conventional electronica. As is the way with the Del Mar catalog, a true gem sits amid the collection waiting to be discovered. In this case, it is the superb "Les Negresses Vertes" from Face a la Mer (a.k.a. a Nick Warren project from the early 1990s) given a thoroughly good dubbing by the great Massive Attack. Only the KLF-like spatial dreamweaving of Lamb's "Transfatty Acid (Kruder & Dorfmeister remix edit)" comes close to bettering it. Elsewhere, Levitation's "More Than Ever People" is pure orange sunsets on shimmering waves, the warmth of its backbeat adding sensuality, while the retro-disco of French act Ame Strong's "Tout Est Bleu" has the rounded curves of bottom-end as opposed to the sharpened corner of dancefloor disco. Overall, the way to enjoy Volume 5 is to adhere to cliché No. 177 (the sum is stronger than individual parts), dim the lights, find some romantic company, and let the music do the talking. --Steffan Chirazi
